


A Nightmare, Ending

by Benfrosh



Category: Fire Emblem: Soen no Kiseki/Akatsuki no Megami | Fire Emblem Path of Radiance/Radiant Dawn
Genre: M/M, Post-Canon, my friend really likes ike/soren and i really like writing ike/soren, sometimes she draws art of my ocs this is a very fruitful relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-11
Updated: 2016-06-11
Packaged: 2018-07-14 08:53:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,079
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7164116
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Benfrosh/pseuds/Benfrosh
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Soren comes face to face with the pain that has been building up over his life.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Nightmare, Ending

Soren stood up. In front of him stretched a long village road, extending out as far as he could see, lined with houses on both sides. He watched as families bustled to and fro, merchants hawked their wares, and children darted in and out of the alleys between the houses. The sound of cheerful people filled the air, as their picturesque lives played out before him. A happy, idyllic scene. Soren took a step forward.

The noise stopped. Every face, every man, woman, and child, stopped and stared at Soren. They all noticed him. There was nowhere for him to hide. There never was. He took another step forward.

The children were the first to run. As he approached, they scattered and hid, pulling into the alleyways or disappearing behind their kind and loving parents. The women pulled the children behind them as the men hurled insults at him. Halfbreed. Mistake. Stain upon the earth. Soren closed his eyes and ears and continued to walk forward, undeterred as the crowd threw apples at him. This was how it was.

Finally, he reached his destination. He opened his door. Even though he could not recognize any part of the house, inside or outside, he knew it was his. This was the first place he grew up. He stepped inside. 

The house was far too small. It always was. He felt it closing around him even as he stood in the entryway. Far away and yet impossibly claustrophobically close, he heard the voice of his 'mother'. "I'll be right there, just hold on!" she shouted from a rear room. "I'm so sorry, it's just... with this damn child, it's so hard to keep up with everything, you know?"

Soren saw a pot of stew overflowing over the fire.

"It's always been baby this, baby that, ever since he showed up. He's not even mine, you know? I just..."

Soren tried to find the source of the voice, but as he moved forward to see he only found laundry lines blocking his view. He futilely tried to push them away.

"Oh, if it weren't for this child! Why me?! The world just isn't fair!"

Soren finally pulled away the last piece of laundry to see- another home. Another place. Another stop on his journey. A circular room, with bookshelves towering to the sky, as far away as Soren could see, each filled to the brim with strange, colorful tomes with names in exotic, beautiful languages.

"There you are, boy!" The old sage turned around a corner to enter the room. "Where have you been, my young boy? We have so much to do, so little time." The sage's face, lined with wrinkles from his old age, still seemed to be full of energy. "Come on now, there's no time to waste. It's time to study once more." The sage, draped in a long, flowing yellow robe, began walking around the room, as Soren wordlessly followed. 

"There is a time for all things, boy, and now is not the time to waste time in time out and time your time away! It is the time for study and review. Now, then, let's go from the top. The first principle of magic, you should well know by now." The sage's head turned around to glare at Soren. 

Soren tried to open his mouth to respond. But no words came out.

The sage stared into Soren's eyes. Soren watched as the sage's eyes shriveled in his sockets. "The first principle of magic, dear boy, is that nothing can stop death," he whispered as he collapsed, his body melting to dust inside his robes. The robes pooled on the ground, melting away the floor. As the pool spread further, Soren could only watch helplessly as he fell in.

The darkness surrounded him. Soren tumbled and fell, helpless as he spun throughout the dark endless abyss. He felt the weight of the world - half of it staring at him, half of it scorning him and ignoring him. He felt them pushing him down and pushing him away and knocking him wild. He found nothing to hold on to, nothing to keep him steady. The air was still and silent, and try as he might he could not call it to his aid. He fell, and fell, and fell...

He hit the tree before he saw it. He heard the branches breaking beneath him as he plummeted to earth. Finally, he fell to the ground, rolling into a hollow by the roots of the tree. He could barely move after the impact, his arms and legs weighed down by the torment. There was nothing he could do, as snow started falling around him.

The snow piled up around him, slowly burying him. Soren still couldn't move. He felt his heart slowing down, beat by beat, as he started to pass away. So, this was how it was to end.

Beat.

Beat.

Beat...

...

And far off in the distance, Soren heard the cry of an eagle. And he felt the sun rise over the horizon, and the snow starting to melt around him. And despite himself, he started to feel... hope. Hope swelling in his chest, lifting him up, pulling him into the sky, closer to the sun, as he...

\---

Soren blinked his eyes open. Above him was the ceiling of the tent he was sleeping in. The sun was creeping in through the slit in the front of the tent, and was starting to shine directly in Soren's eyes. Time to wake up, Soren reasoned. He threw off the blanket covering him, pushed himself up to a kneeling position, and crawled out of the tent.

Outside, Ike was shirtlessly chopping wood for the camp fire. With a mighty swing, bringing Ragnell down with the full force of both his arms, his back muscles rippling in the open air, he cleanly split the piece of wood in two. Ragnell stuck inside the trunk, and Ike let go of it to wipe his brow of the sweat that was starting to build up. He looked around, and saw Soren staring from the tent they had set up in the wild, to get away from everything. At the sight of the only person in the world he ever trusted, Ike's mouth grew into a giant grin. "Hey, sleepyhead. You finally awake?" His eyes sparkled with the morning sun, his blue hair wafting gently in the breeze.

Soren's heart skipped a beat.


End file.
